Didymus the Blind

In his own words on 1 John

• 1 John 1:1

  Many think that these words apply to the postresurrection appearances of Jesus and say that John is speaking of himself and the other disciples who first of all heard that the Lord had risen and afterwards saw him with their own eyes, to the point where they touched his feet, his hands and his side and felt the imprint of the nails. For even if Thomas was the only one who actually made physical contact with him, he was representative of the others, for the Savior told them all to touch him and see for themselves. But others take these words in a deeper sense, noting that they do not simply speak about touching but also about handling the "word of life which was from the beginning." Who can this refer to, other than to the one who said: "I am that I am"? Another interpretation is that we have now seen openly with our own eyes the one who was in the beginning, of whom the law and the prophets spoke, saying that he would come. He has indeed come and was seen in the flesh, and after much handling of the scriptural texts which bear witness to him, this is what we believe about the Word of life.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 1:2

  Note that there is an important difference between seeing and contemplating. For what is seen can be told to others, which is not always possible with things which are contemplated. For there are many things which may be perfectly well contemplated but which cannot be expressed in words because they are known by some ineffable understanding. In this verse it should be noticed that those who are bearing witness are not validating the life of Jesus but improving themselves by their confession.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 1:5

  John wrote that the proclamation, by which it was stated that God is light, with no shadows in him at all, was made by the Savior himself to his disciples. Now he is sharing it with his readers so that they too might believe the same thing about God.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 1:8

  Since God is light, there is no darkness in him at all, and he has nothing to do with darkness. The person who is enlightened by his light walks in the light, according to the words of the Savior himself: "While you have the light, walk in the light, lest the darkness take hold of you." Anyone who walks in the darkness of sin but claims that his mind is not darkened and that he has a relationship with God is lying.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 2:3

  Often in the Scriptures the word know means not just being aware of something but having personal experience of it. Jesus did not know sin, not because he was unaware of what it is but because he never committed it himself. For although he is like us in every other way, he never sinned. Given this meaning of the word know, it is clear that anyone who says that he knows God must also keep his commandments, for the two things go together.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 2:5

  The person who really loves God keeps his commandments and by so doing realizes that he knows the love of God. Our obedience results in his love.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 2:7

  Some people were apparently objecting that the Evangelist's teaching was a new thing, and so he had to insist that this was not so.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 2:15

  Since the nature of friendship with God is such that if anyone loves this world he is an enemy of God, it follows that if someone wants to be a friend of God and dwell in God's love, he must turn away from love of the world and the things which are in the world.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 2:18

  These things are not said of all who teach false doctrine but only of those who join a false sect after they have heard the truth. It is because they were once Christians that they are now called antichrists.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:2

  By writing these things John is exhorting his readers to recognize what it means to be born again of God. He tells them that they are now worthy to be loved as children of God, even in this world, and that the adoption of sons is a reality here and now. For since we now know in part and have the first fruits of the Spirit, we already have something of the adoption of sons and can see what the fullness of it will be like when it arrives.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:6

  Just as the person who dwells in virtue and true doctrine does not sin and is not ignorant, so the one who remains in Christ, who is his righteousness and sanctification, does not sin. For how can someone act unrighteously when he is in the company of righteousness, and how can he be content to place corruption alongside holiness? Therefore anyone who sins is outside Christ and has no part or fellowship in him.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:8

  Since the devil was first and foremost sent into the world in order to lead people astray, that is where his name comes from. Thus anyone who sins can be called a devil. Sin is not inherent in the human race, since if it were it could not have been eradicated by a sinless human being. But this is exactly what happened when the Son of God appeared in human flesh, and so sin must be regarded as accidental to human nature, not as intrinsic to human nature.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:9

  Heretics, who are deceived in everything by everything, like to object that any birth which is produced by the creator of this world is automatically sinful, whereas any birth which comes from the God of the New Testament is not so. They base this idea on the supposition that sinners and the righteous must have different creators, but this notion is based on a misunderstanding of the teaching of Scripture. The Bible does not say that whoever is born of God is sinless but that such a person will not sin as long as he walks according to the way of righteousness. If he turns aside from that he will sin, and indeed those who do sin have turned away from their Creator. The ability not to sin is guaranteed by the presence of God's seed in us. This seed is either his power or the spirit of adoption, which cannot sin.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:10

  Since a person who walks in righteousness is born of God, it follows that someone who is so born will love his brothers. Someone who lacks righteousness because he does not practice it, but instead hates his brother, is not born of God.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:12

  We have had the commandment to love one another from the beginning, so that we should not fall into evil as Cain did, who murdered his brother.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:13

  It is not to be wondered at if evil people, who are here called the "world," hate those who live godly lives according to the commands of Christ. It would be much more surprising if such people loved us instead!

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 3:14

  Whoever loves his brothers in God's way has passed from death to life, but whoever does not have this love remains in death. In the same way the widow who enjoyed herself was dead, even if technically she was alive. For anyone who lives like that has obviously forgotten God.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:1

  Just as in ancient Israel there were some prophets who spoke the word of God and others who did not, so also, as soon as the apostles appeared, speaking in Christ and having the Holy Spirit whom the Lord had given to them, many false apostles were sent by the devil to counterfeit the teaching of the gospel. It is essential to have that gift of the Holy Spirit which is called the discernment of spirits in order to have the ability to test the spirits, to see which ones are to be believed and which ones are to be rejected.

  CATENA

• 1 John 4:2

  A spirit which comes from God will confess that Jesus Christ, although he was in the form of God, took upon himself the form of a servant and came in the flesh.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:3

  If a spirit dissolves the divine-human unity of Christ and thinks that the pure Word of God is outside all flesh, and cannot really be a man, and states that everything done in his incarnation is a fantasy, then that spirit is not from God. But someone will say that there are many heretics who do accept the incarnation, the Montanists for instance. The answer to them is that just as no one says that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit, so the Montanists do not accept all the implications of incarnational belief. For those who say that Jesus is Lord but who do not follow his commandments do not have the Holy Spirit. Although they honor him with their lips, their hearts are far from him.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:6

  If we take the word hear literally, it is clear that this cannot be true, since everybody can pick up the sounds of the words. It is therefore clear that the word means something more than that—it means that we should do what we hear. If someone does not know that he is supposed to act, he has not really heard.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:7

  Just as the person who does not choose what he ought to choose has done wrong and does not love what he ought to love, so those who love only those who are worthy of love receive only that level of praise due to them.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:12

  Since God is invisible, nobody has ever seen him, since bodily sight cannot see things which have no bodies. But there are some heretics who say that the Old Testament speaks of a visible God, because occasionally people are said to have seen him, whereas the New Testament makes him completely invisible. So we have to ask what substance he is supposed to have which would make him visible. They would have to answer, unless they are out of their minds, that God is a body, even though it is not made of any perceivable substance. If that is what they think, they ought to consider how incongruous and full of ungodliness their beliefs are. For how can there be a body if there is no way of defining what it is?

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 4:15

  This needs to be properly understood. God will not dwell in anyone who does not obey his commandments, however much he may confess him with his lips. Some people are confused by the various names of Jesus, because they do not interpret the Scriptures correctly. They think that because he came out of the womb of Mary according to the flesh and was given the name Jesus at that time, he is not to be identified with the eternal Son of God, who did not think it robbery to be considered equal with God. They restrict themselves to the human form which the Word of God assumed, even though the being of the Word was never changed into humanity. To confess the one Lord Jesus Christ is to confess him as God and man, not as a man only.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:1

  This describes everyone who is born of God and does what God wants him to do.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:3

  The substance and ground of the love we ought to have for God is obedience to his commandments.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:14

  Those who possess technical skills and know how to repair things are fully confident that when the need arises they will be able to do so. Similarly these holy men, John and the other apostles, knew from their own experience that if they asked God for what was pleasing and acceptable to him, they would obtain it. For God is most generous to those who have this knowledge and will grant the requests of those who ask according to his will.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:18

  If it is true that when someone does what is righteous his power to do so comes from God, and if it is also true that righteousness and evil cannot live together, then it is perfectly clear that as long as a person does such things he is righteous and does not sin. But because this ability is given by grace and is not natural, John adds that the righteous person must watch out, so that evil will not touch him.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:19

  The "world," that is, those who love the world, are subjected to evil. This includes everybody, because we are all born under sin, which traces its origin to the disobedience of Adam. Many heretics claim that there is a creator god who made the world evil to begin with, but this is not so. The word refers to people, not to the material substance of creation.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:20

  The understanding which God gave, by which it is known that the true Son of God is coming, is the same as the mind of Christ.

  COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN

• 1 John 5:21

  Why is it that after everything else which he has said to his hearers during the course of his letter, John should keep this warning about idols to the very end? In my opinion it is because here he is addressing the church in general. There must have been many in that assembly who were former idolaters, and he adds this caution for their benefit.

  CATENA